Humza Yousaf made online complaints about train service

TOM PETERKIN

Transport minister Humza Yousaf was a stern online critic of Scotland’s train service before he came to office, a trawl of his Twitter account has revealed.

On at least four occasions Mr Yousaf has complained that ScotRail services were not up to his expectations.

In late 2011, Mr Yousaf tweeted: “Only 3carriages on peak morning train - completely overcrowded. Everytime there is a #scotfail can we reduce fares by 1%?”

Earlier that year, he tweeted: “Sitting on @ScotRail train to Ed and there’s water dripping on me from an air vent - told the conductor who said ‘wouldn’t surprise me!’ “

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “It seems Humza Yousaf has been a consistent critic of Scotland’s rail network, until he became responsible for it. His experiences of 2011 seem to mirror what passengers are now going through on his watch.

“And if we were to take seriously his suggestion of reducing fares every time something went wrong, ScotRail would be bankrupt.”

A spokesman for Mr Yousaf said: “Humza has always wanted a top quality service for Scotland’s rail passengers – that was the case before he was Transport Minister and it remains the case now.

“But the Tories’ desperation to talk about anything else but the autumn statement and the heavy cost of Brexit has backfired badly with Ruth Davidson’s blundering performance at First Minister’s Questions.”